The Newport Folk Festival Asks Buffalo Springfield To Make Good on 1967 Gig

Back in 1967, Buffalo Springfield was booked to play the Newport Folk Festival. The Los Angeles rock band had recently shot to fame with “For What It’s Worth,” and was advertised on a bill with Pete Seeger, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Muddy Waters and Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys. But the Springfield bailed.

The group’s cancellation, via telegram from the William Morris Agency, cited a medical issue, “as member of group undergoing tonsillectomy will be out of circulation two weeks.”

Forty-four years later, as Buffalo Springfield geared up for some reunion shows, the folk festival used the telegram as a joke in a serious effort to get the band to make good on the gig.

Newport Folk producer Bob Jones, who’s been with the festival since the early 1960s, had discovered the telegram in his files. When the reformed Springfield was announced, his fellow producer, Jay Sweet, emailed a copy of the telegram to the office of Elliot Roberts, the longtime manager of Springfield member Neil Young. He wrote, “Pass this along to Elliot and let him know Neil / B. Springfield owes us a date. or at least our deposit back PLUS interest.”

Mr. Sweet says that 1967 deposit, paid to the band in advance of the show, was $50. (The full fee is unknown, but in keeping with the festival’s payouts of the time, it wouldn’t have been more than a few hundred dollars.)

The telegram got a reply of “classic, indeed!” from an associate of Mr. Roberts, to which Mr. Sweet responded, “I’m serious.” After that, “crickets,” he says. Through a representative, Mr. Roberts said the Newport ’67 booking was “before his time” (he later managed the band briefly before its breakup), but didn’t comment on whether the scuttled show had any bearing on current business.

Landing the band would have been a major coup for Newport. The Springfield’s three surviving members –Richie Furay, Stephen Stills and Mr. Young–have played fewer than 10 shows since reforming last year. (An expected tour has been delayed until 2012.) Their only festival date so far was last June’s Bonnaroo. The massive Tennessee festival can afford to pay individual acts fees that exceed Newport Folk’s total budget.

In the summer of ’67, the Springfield was grappling with the sort of turmoil that summed up its entire two-year lifespan. Mr. Young had exited the band in June (he would rejoin a few months later) and thus missed the landmark Monterey Pop Festival. David Crosby, then of the Byrds, joined the Springfield on stage there. “They added Crosby because they needed more oomph to the vocals,” says band biographer John Einarson. One reason, he says: “Richie Furay’s tonsils were acting up on him.”

The tonsillectomy excuse in the telegram, which in the concert business might as well be a veiled demand for more money or code for “strung out band member,” was legit.

It’s still unfinished business for Newport Folk. Calculated with the monthly prime rate, interest on the $50 deposit would amount to $1,572.19. But Mr. Sweet says he isn’t after money: “They still owe me a gig!”

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